Actress Choi Kang-hee (My Sweet Seoul) published her essay collection at the end of September, and within only ten days it’s already become a bestseller.

The collection is titled Choi Kang-hee, A Little Child’s Little Happiness and has shot to the top ten of various bestseller lists. Currently, the volume has sold more than 32,000 copies and is heading into a fifth printing. The publisher’s initial printing produced 10,000 copies, but because of demand, they have upped the latest print order to 20,000 volumes.

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Post tags: books, Choi Kang-hee, Lee Hye-young, star extracurricular activities

One thing makes me wary of this announcement that Choi Kang-hee, cute and quirky actress of dramas like My Sweet Seoul, is putting out a book. Not because she’s writing a book in the first place, but because of the fact that it is described as “mini-homepage-like.” (As in, like an unfocused personal blog.)

Her essay collection will be published at the end of September and is described by the actress as “without an fixed format.” The collection includes stories about herself as well as poems, and will be accompanied by photographs she has taken. Some photos feature the scenery of Iceland, shot when she traveled there on a working trip. Videos will be included on a CD to be sold along with the book.

Choi Kang-hee says, “I’ve frequently posted a lot of different thoughts on my mini-homepage, and I thought a lot of people enjoyed it. …As I visited the mini-homepages of other people, I wondered what it would be like to make a book that was like a personal homepage.”

(The reason I’m wary is because what makes a blog interesting doesn’t always make a book interesting. Plus, a blog with a specific purpose is a different thing altogether from a personal blog. I can see the potential when a book mimics that style while retaining a clear point, a la Bridget Jones’s Diary. But a book brought together with no defining purpose sounds like a scattered read.)

Choi has a new movie coming out later this year, Aeja [애자], in which her character is also an aspiring writer. The film co-stars Kim Young-ae and Bae Soo-bin.

Via DongA

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Post tags: books, Choi Kang-hee, star extracurricular activities

Bae Soo-bin just wrapped his previous role as the much-loved Jun-sae character in Brilliant Legacy, but he takes a completely different turn with his latest role as Choi Kang-hee’s man in the movie Aeja [애자], where Choi plays the title character.

While his Brilliant Legacy image was gentle and supportive, the “Chul-min” character he plays in Aeja is rather pathetic. His good job as a home-shopping channel producer and his good looks make him well-liked among other ladies, but once he’s in front of his overbearing girlfriend Aeja, he’s reduced to a hapless, klutzy guy who is devoted to her. In a word, he’s whipped. Bae Soo-bin is reportedly drawing notice for his laugh-inducing performance as the sad-sack boyfriend.

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Post tags: Bae Soo-bin, Choi Kang-hee

Clothing brand Benetton is launching its “Green Ride Campaign,” with five fashionistas providing the face to their promotional ads: Jung Ryeo-won, above (Ja Myung Go); Gong Hyo-jin (Crush and Blush); Kang Hye-jung (Why Did You Come To My Home?); Choi Kang-hee (My Sweet Seoul); and model-singer Jang Yoon-ju.

As part of the campaign, Benetton will be producing limited edition bikes and “eco” bike bags and T-shirts, which will be sold in stores nationwide and on their website. A portions of proceeds from the campaign will be donated to the Climate Change Center.

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Post tags: Choi Kang-hee, Gong Hyo-jin, Jang Yoon-ju, Jung Ryeo-won, Kang Hye-jung, photo shoots

Following MBC’s Acting Awards on the 30th, the 31st saw awards ceremonies for the other two stations. First up: 2008 SBS Drama Awards. (KBS coming up next!)

The big news is that the SBS Daesang was awarded to the very young but very talented Moon Geun-young for her gender-bending role in the gorgeously shot historical drama Painter in the Wind. It had been widely speculated that her co-star, shunned star Park Shin-yang, might not appear after being shut out of the nominations and criticized for his exorbitant asking fees, and he in fact did not show. (I think Park’s management did not handle the War of Money pay situation well, but making a point to blackball him from SBS seems like scapegoating to me.)

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Post tags: awards, Cha Ye-ryun, Choi Kang-hee, fashion, Ha Seok-jin, Han Hyo-joo, Han Ye-seul, Jang Hyuk, Ji Hyun-woo, Kim Haneul, Kim So-yeon, Lee Junki, Lee Yo-won, Moon Chae-won, Moon Geun-young, Moon Jung-hee, Oh Man-seok, Park Bo-young, Park Yong-ha, Song Yoon-ah, Yoo Seung-ho, Yoon So-yi

Choi Kang-hee is known for her quirky image, both in acting style and fashion sense. Her fashion profile was raised since appearing in the drama My Sweet Seoul, where her character’s casual, boho-chic clothes spurred fashion trends among twenty- and thirty-something women.

Choi is showing more of her style sense in an upcoming cable program; she recently filmed a “real story” segment for O’live TV. The program takes the theme Choi Kang-hee’s Six Addictions and follows Choi around New York as she shops and browses. The segment is produced by O’live in conjunction with Korean apparel brand Eryn Brinie, which has just ventured into the U.S. market and whose store Choi toured while in New York.

Other celebrity fashion diaries featured in the past by O’live include Go Ara in Japan and Shin Mina in France.

Via IS Plus

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Post tags: cable programs, Choi Kang-hee

Yeah, this ad for Converse featuring its new brand models, Choi Kang-hee (My Sweet Seoul) and boy-bander Kim Hyun-joong (of SS501), is one of those instances.

Converse is selling… what, exactly? The ad says “down jumper” but the picture tells me “goose mothering skills.”

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Post tags: Choi Kang-hee, Kim Hyun-joong